Wind power is considered one of the cleanest, most environmentally friendly energy sources presently available, and wind turbines have gained increased attention in this regard. A modern wind turbine typically includes a tower, generator, gearbox, nacelle, and one or more rotor blades. The rotor blades capture kinetic energy of wind using known airfoil principles. The rotor blades transmit the kinetic energy in the form of rotational energy so as to turn a shaft coupling the rotor blades to a gearbox, or if a gearbox is not used, directly to the generator. The generator then converts the mechanical energy to electrical energy that may be deployed to a utility grid.
Typically, to initially install a rotor blade onto the wind turbine hub and/or to remove one of the existing rotor blades from the hub, a significantly large crane must be transported to the wind turbine site in order to provide a means for raising and/or lowering the rotor blade relative to the hub. Unfortunately, it is often extremely expensive to both transport the crane to the wind turbine site and operate the crane for the amount of time necessary to install and/or remove the rotor blade(s). As a result, the costs of employing such large cranes currently accounts for a significant portion of the overall costs associated with initial wind turbine installations and rotor blade maintenance operations.
Accordingly, improved methods and related systems for removing and/or installing wind turbine rotor blades that do not require the use of a significantly large crane would be welcomed in the technology.